MST3K 623 - The Amazing Transparent Man
The Short The Days of Our Years Synopsis Another Union Pacific short, this time a preacher talking about avoiding work accidents and providing three examples. As Mike points out, the main causes of workplace accidents are, apparently, joy, sex, and old age. Information *Interesting to note that all three accidents were the fault of the workers, not due to machinery or management. *This short was included on Shorts, Volume 2, released by Rhino Entertainment on VHS in October 1999, and on DVD as part of The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection: Volume 3, a 4-DVD set with The Side Hackers, The Unearthly and The Atomic Brain. The Movie Synopsis Former U. S. Army major, Paul Krenner (James Griffith), plans to conquer the world with an army of invisible soldiers and will do anything to achieve that goal. With the help of his hired muscle, Julian (Red Morgan), Krenner forces Dr. Peter Ulof (Ivan Trisault) to perfect the invisibility machine Ulof invented. He keeps Ulof’s daughter, Maria (Carmel Daniel) imprisoned to keep Ulof in line. The nuclear materials Ulof needs to better his invisibility machine are extremely rare and kept under guard in government facilities. Krenner arranges the prison break of notorious safecracker, Joey Faust (Douglas Kennedy), to steal the materials he needs. Of course Faust will do the jobs while invisible. Krenner offers Faust money for the jobs and Faust expresses his grievances against working for him. Faust tells him that he’ll sing like a canary if he’s returned to prison. Krenner tells Faust that he’s wanted alive or dead. Faust reluctantly complies. However, when he meets Faust’s woman, Laura Matson (Marguerite Chapman), he slowly charms her into a double cross. Faust continues attempting to escape and tries to get one over on Krenner. It looks like he may have the edge on Krenner when Faust attacks Krenner while invisible. However, Dr. Ulof’s guinea pig dies and, during the second time he’s invisible, Faust uncontrollably reverts from invisible to visible and back again. Despite these drawbacks Faust forges ahead intent on breaking free from Krenner’s control. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053593/plotsummary Information * This was shot back-to-back with Beyond the Time Barrier (1960). The combined shooting schedule was only two weeks. They became Edgar G. Ulmer's last American films. * Final film of Marguerite Chapman. * An Illinois punk rock group called The Amazing Transparent Man recorded on the Springman Records label from 1997 to 2004. * MCP gave the film an abbreviated release before it was picked up by AIP in 1960. * Cast and crew roundup: ** Special effects artist Roger George also worked on The Human Duplicators. ** Special effects artist Howard A. Anderson also worked in Women of the Prehistoric Planet, King Dinosaur, 12 to the Moon and It Lives By Night. ** Make-up artist Jack Pierce also worked on The Brute Man. ** Assistant director Leonard Shapiro also worked on Project Moon Base and Bloodlust. ** Set designer Louise Caldwell also worked on The Giant Gila Monster and The Killer Shrews. ** Sound technician Earl Snyder also worked on Giant Gila Monster, Killer Shrews and The Crawling Hand. ** In front of the camera: James Griffith was also in Manhunt in Space. Edward Erwin was also in Ring of Terror. Jonathan Ledford was also in Attack of the the Eye Creatures. The Episode Host Segments ’s Tangleberry Inn']] '''Prologue:' Tom’s science project is a Crowtus Robotus Horribilus, trapped in a giant bottle. Segment One: Crow gets mounted among the other insects of Servo's collection. Deep 13 has been transformed into Auntie McFrank’s Tangleberry Inn, a colorful bed and breakfast. After being served a meal of cold lo mein, Mike and the Bots provide some "local color" for the guests by presenting a llama. "Don't you give no matches to Mikey!" The guests can't pack fast enough, and Dr. F is peeved. Segment Two: Based on the tragic short, Crow learns the hard way about "gentle pressure". Segment Three: Frank finally gets a day off and buys a ticket from a scalper for Squanto: A Warrior’s Tale. Dr. F tactlessly lets Frank know it's already left theaters. Segment Four: After failing to impress the Bots with his new electric organ, Mike gets caught pretending to be Rick Wakeman when he tries to perform The Six Wives of Henry VIII. Segment Five: Mike and the Bots try to answer the film’s dilemma of either having an invisible army or blowing up a county in Texas. They read an amazing transparent letter. Back in Deep 13, it's teatime, though Frank still mourns for Squanto. Stinger: Petting the invisible guinea pig is fun! Other Notes Guest Stars *''Ted: Kevin Murphy *Barb: Mary Jo Pehl Callbacks * ''"Flag on the moon." (The Beast of Yucca Flats) Obscure References *''"They should have had a train scene here!"'' Crow is suggesting that some Freudian imagery would have rounded out the montage. *''"...when he was good friends with Dean Rusk."'' Dean Rusk was the U.S. Secretary of State under the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. *''"The doctor's wife had died. He paused to smell a rose..." "Plan 5 from Outer Space!"'' All references to Ed Wood's cinematic opus Plan 9 from Outer Space. Though the SOL crew tackled Ed Wood's other films like Bride of the Monster and The Sinister Urge; Mike wouldn't tackle Plan 9 until the founding of RiffTrax. *''"Oh, no- cops!"'' Mike is imitating the Simpsons character Snake. *''"Must escape from Barbara Woodhouse!"'' Barbara Woodhouse was a British dog trainer. *''"Shadowlands II: Escape from Oxford!"'' Shadowlands was a 1993 film about C.S. Lewis' relationship with poet Joy Davidman. *''"Is your knob turned to Bob?"'' A reference to "Turn your knob to Bob", a former slogan for the Minneapolis radio station KTLK-FM. The slogan had inspired the "Turn Your crank to Frank" sketch in Experiment #610 The Violent Years. *''"Burgess Meredith is in there reading..."'' A reference to the "Twilight Zone" epsiode Time Enough at Last, in which actor Burgess Meredith played a bank teller who typically reads in the bank's vault during his lunch break. *''"I'm not a telephone junkie... There's no action..."'' These are lines from the Elvis Costello song No Action. * "Keep your eyyyyeeee on the guinea pig!" A reference to "Keep Your Eye on the Sparrow", the theme song from the TV series Baretta. *''"It's kind of an abstract sculpture of Jayne Mansfield."'' Jayne Mansfield was a blonde movie actress during the 1950s and 60s, known for her voluptuous figure. None of Jayne's films were used on MST3K until Season 11's ''The Loves of Hercules''. *''"Ben, some people will turn you away..."'' Mike is singing the theme song from the 1972 horror movie Ben, which was about a socially awkward young man and his friendship with a rat. The song was performed by a young Michael Jackson. *''"It's just me and the latest issue of Sassy!"'' Sassy was a magazine for teenage girls published during the 1990s. *''"Goofus pisses me off."'' Goofus and Gallant are two characters who regularly appear in the magazine Highlights for Children. Goofus is generally thoughtless, lazy, and inconsiderate. *''"Spies Like Us!"'' Spies Like Us was a 1985 movie starring Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd, with a theme song by Paul McCartney. * "Thanks a lot, Bill W...." Bill W. is the name of the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous. * "Mr. Keesterman's mailbox!" Mr. Keesterman is a character in the daily newspaper comic strip "Crankshaft". A recurring joke is that Keesterman's curbside mailbox is frequently damaged by the titular character's careless driving of a school bus. * "Tonight on '21', Charles Van Doren vs. Leopold Stokowski..." "21" was a popular TV game show in the 1950s. The contestants were asked general knowledge questions, which were purported to be held in a sealed vault until the show was recorded. It was eventually revealed that the producers were giving the answers to contestants that they favored, such a Mr. Van Doren. The scandal was dramatized in the 1994 feature film Quiz Show. It was implied that the producers' selection of who would win was partially inspired by anti-Semitism or a disdain for ethnic minorities, hence Tom's reference to Leopold Stokowski, the orchestra conductor of Polish-Irish heritage. * "Kevin Costner as Jim Garrison!" Jim Garrison was a New Orleans District Attorney who popularized the theory that President John F. Kennedy's assassination was the result of a larger conspiracy. Garrison was played by actor Kevin Costner in Oliver Stone's 1991 feature film JFK. * "Donald Nixon!" Francis Donald Nixon was a younger brother of United States President Richard Nixon. Faust resembles him slightly. *''"I just know I'm gonna show up in News of the Weird now!"'' News of the Weird is a syndicated newspaper column by Chuck Shepherd. *''"We return now to 'Paris, Texas'."'' Paris, Texas was a 1984 film directed by Wim Wenders. *''"It's a Frank Gehry building!"'' Frank Gehry is an architect known for designing asymmetrical, ultramodern structures. * "David McCallum is booked for midnight." David McCallum played the titular role of The Invisible Man in a 1975 NBC TV Series. (McCallum's series was canceled and replaced with the cheaper invisible man series called Gemini Man, episodes of which were later re-purposed and released as Riding with Death.) Goofs * At the end of the movie, shortly after the question 'What would you do?' is asked, Mike's microphone is briefly visible. Video releases *Commercially released on DVD by Shout! Factory in November 2017 as part of Volume XXXIX, a 4-disc set along with Girls Town, Diabolik, and Satellite Dishes. **The DVD includes the Ballyhoo Motion Pictures feature Beyond Transparency and a theatrical trailer. Category:MST3K Episodes Category:Season 6 Category:Episodes with shorts Category:Stubs Category:Unrated movies Category:Episodes directed by Kevin Murphy Category:Crime movies Category:Atomic films